Catch up... June - Aug 2011

Will post a load of pictures to try and catch up with the last few months, have really got to try and get back in the swing of this...

Saddest time in late June and early July as my Mum fell was diagnosed with a brain tumour after having a couple of collapses at home, she was admitted to Bronglais hospital in Aberystwyth and sadly never got out of there, we had hoped to have her at home for a few weeks/months that were originally predicted. However, things took a turn for the worse in late June and in the first week of July Mum passed away peacefully at night.

I had managed to get back a few times to see her and spend time with my Dad before then, but it was a very difficult time.

The family all came down for the funeral from far and wide, and I will do a separate entry on that with some pictures.

For now here are the latest wildlife updates from Levignac... also a few in here from Ynis-hir in West Wales, where they have successfully had a wild pair of Ospreys breed for the first time in 400 years.

Lizard on the balcony - this was still quite cold outside...

The biggest moth I have EVER seen 14cm wingspan
- must get that 100mm Macro...

Pepé (Le Pew) - the tramp cat that has turned up

Butterfly... with a bit missing

Osprey chicks (taken from the live video link display) - Ynis-hir

Never did get close enough for a great Osprey shot, so this will
have to do for now...

Water Buffalo - in Wales at Ynis-hir

Young deer

Bullrush - Ynis-hir

Young deer, spots still evident - so this must be So and Ti...

Another beautiful view from the balcony

First Hoopoe in three years here.

First home-grown Peaches in three years

Camera to Hand... No :-(

Typically when it is most needed the camera is sitting on a table about 15 meters away, and moving to get it will undoubtedly scare off all the amazing wildlife that is currently visiting...
Saturday morning and a bowl of porridge and coffee on the balcony that has a large Cherry tree next to it is providing an experience on a par with Springwatch...

Firstly the normal motley crew of Blue Tits, Jays, Nuthatch and Blackbirds are enjoying the feast of overripe cherries on the upper parts of the tree. They are then joined by around four Blackcaps, what fantastic little singers they are, with the Golden Oriels in the background unseen with their melodious song it is a real treat to just listen.

Then bounding across the grass from the pine stand comes a small - I never realised how much smaller than those bully boy greys they are - and fabulously coloured Red Squirrel to join the cherry bonanza... making short work of reaching the top of the tree - which is about 1 meter higher but only 2 meters from my seat on the balcony - he throws himself around on branches that are mere twigs in reality. His powers of balance are being tested to the fullest as he goes for the plumpest and blackest cherries that are on the ends of these twiglet like branches, he then sits in the iconic squirrel pose and makes short work of the cherry selected.

Meanwhile on the ground the female Roe Deer has made an appearance and is grazing on the grass around the tree and the leaves on the lower branches, not sure if she is sampling the cherries though...
The squirrel eventually runs back to the pine trees and leaps through the branches and I have the Mission Impossible music running through my head... Next to visit is a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again seems to be the cherries that are the attraction.

Then briefly a flash of yellow and a greener yellow as two Golden Oriels briefly fly between the pines and then again they disappear... probably never going to get a photo of them at this rate!

As I write this Sunday morning, I have just had the male Roe Deer outside the French doors with my old cat Ella sitting outside looking fascinated by it, a short while later I see a flash of black and white and then brown in my peripheral vision, looking around I see the cat being chased by the female Roe Deer - not sure if it is trying to kill the cat or play... - Ella bolts under the balcony area and dives under a workbench that sits there, with the deer the other side front legs splayed as she puts her head under the bench.

Cornered Ella's fighting spirit kicks in a lot of hissing and waving paws at the deer ensues, the deer backs off and then stands watching the cat, with to be honest what seems to be genuine curiosity rather than malice. As I have the camera to hand this time I managed to get a couple of shots of her here - although unfortunatly not any of the Cat/Deer encounter.

As I am taking a few shots of her I can see rippling under her skin around her belly, the only thing I can think is that although she doesn't look that big, she must have a pretty active fawn inside her and as it moves around you can see the leg/head or whatever it is bulging out under the skin - maybe there will be a new addition to garden deer shortly?

Les Filles du Palais en tournée and Jeux Sans Frontiers

So the first non-family visitors arrived in early July for a long weekend, and I think we all had a jolly nice time - and having three women in the house proved to be not as difficult as I thought it might have been...

Louise, Anna and Becca in Gaillac

Easy jet did their utmost to move the arrival from late Thursday night to early Friday morning, but the girls arrived before midnight and once we had made our introductions - only knowing Louise and meeting Becca and Anna for the first time - it was off to chez moi. The temperature even at 11.00pm was well into the mid to high 30's so once we got to the house, it was time for a late supper, some bubbly and a look around the house.

The girls seemed suitably impressed with the accommodation, and I realised I could probably have squeezed them into one room judging by the surprise that they each had one... know better next time...
There was some trepidation at investigating the Fritzel suite, but once down there and realising you couldn't be locked in - and if you were you had access to the Cave a Vin - they seemed happy enough!

After a good nights sleep and a French breakfast we decided that as it was a little overcast there wasn't going to be the Tan Topping activity available that morning - so the decision was taken to venture out in search of Wine.

Gaillac

A little aside here - Toulouse itself doesn't really produce wine - the nearest real wine production is towards Carcassone in the South, Bordeaux in the West and Gaillac to the North East. Gaillac is the nearest at about 50-60 mins drive.
So after the girls had re-showered and replaced tanning products for tanning products that allowed them to go out we made a start on driving to Gaillac.

Although I should probably apologise for the less than impressive iPod selection in the car, I have now (bit late I know) found a couple of good radio stations that play some good, 80's, 90's and 00's music.

How big?

We made it to Gaillac and after driving up and down the same road in a number of directions - I thought of it more as sight seeing rather than not knowing where we were going - and then struggling with the French road sign habit of pointing you in a direction and then at the next two junctions refusing to give you any clues!!! We made it to a wine producers outlet - again in a slight aside I have found some vineyards that you can visit and get a slightly better experience I think - anyway we had a sample of some red and white locally produced wines and after looking around at all that was on display - including the biggest wine glass you are ever likely to see - a case of RED wine was purchased and packed into the car, to be split up later.
We then made our way back into Gaillac and the "House of Wine" some more tasting and the girls very kindly bought me some wine as a thank you - we made our way around Gaillac to see what it had to offer... not a huge amount as it turns out, but we found a café for a café and wine for those not driving, and then continued to explore. Time being a driver we decided to head back towards home and visit the Hypermarche on the way to get some BBQ bits and pieces.

Action shot... but no names...

An uneventful trip back, and a BBQ in the rain! - Well half in the rain and then a few games on the Wii to wrap up the evening

A future Champion looks on...

Next day proved to be fantastically sunny so with only one shower and one application of Tanning product for sitting around in (as opposed to travelling in) it was decided a day by the pool would be the height of the activities. Although Louise had been harbouring a need to build an in pool obstacle course from the week before arriving! So armed with floating spaghettis, diving weights and inflatables a course that could challenge even Flipper was put together - I would say what it was but is far to complicated to remember!!

Is this how dolphin feels...

Suffice to say that after Becca, Myself and Louise had completed our laps (against the clock) Anna, having been a floating obstacle herself stepped up and wiped the floor with us! Obviously having studied our mistakes although pretending to read at the time...

"Your not taking pictures are you...!"

So Jeux Sans Frontiers Champion 2010 to Anna.


 There were then a number of "flotation assisted (or not)" races between the girls of which I have no idea who came out on top but have a suspicion it was Anna the eel - maybe with the use of hidden gadgets, who knows.

Les Filles du Palais

Saturday evening we went into Toulouse, and had a great meal in the Place du Capitole right in the centre of town, girls treat which was really nice.

Meal in Toulouse

It was a shame the weekend had to end on the Sunday, as I think there was a few more days of fun to be had, maybe next time, and a big thank you to the girls for making it all so enjoyable and easy, hopefully there will be a chance to repeat it at some point. Oh almost forgot! When we got the wine back from Gaillac it was WHITE!!! A huge disappointment all round but something to rectify next time, and the Cave is now well stocked after my Châteaux visits now.

Spring 2010

A few shots from around the garden. I am going to start doing some writing as well!!!! Have at least three months to catch up on and loads of pictures and events to catalogue... Oh what joy I hear you cry!!

Parents arrived on Thursday, and since then the weather has gone from 26(80) in the shade (40(104) by the pool) to about 19(66) today - ooh is that an omen of the world cup...

So I do promise to make more effort, and do some regular updates.

 View the original blog here http://toulousearlydays.blogspot.com/

Location, location, location...

http://toulousearlydays.blogspot.com/

They say location is everything and I can't think of one better than this to be enjoying a Sunday breakfast of coffee; juice and Pain au Lait - fantastic views and a fair bit of wildlife to look at whilst enjoying it.

During the course of breakfast, there were two or three Nuthatches coming for sunflower seeds about two feet from my position, along with a few more timid Blue tits and suchlike.

Then along came "Tufty" - showing my age there - and with the Mission Impossible music in my head, scampered over the garden looking for somewhere to bury his nuts...

Next to appear was either a Buzzard or a Gosshawk, I have seen many, many Buzzards in Wales, and I have the feeling this isnt "just" a Buzzard. Looks like it has a roost - or whatever it is called - down in the trees at the foot of the valley, really pushing the 300mm lens to the limit and still dont have a tripod to make the most of the distance. Could probably do with an 800mm and a decent tripod if he keeps using the perch.

Also here are the promised Praying Mantis pictures, and it is a European Praying Mantis - apparently they think the female eating the male is only something that happens in lab conditions and not in the wild, hell of a way to go though!

A typical morning...?

Get up; shower; put coffee on, find a pastry.

Wander outside and fish out 3 frogs from the pool and sundry leaves after the most amazing storm last night - lightning and thunder for about 6 hours, forked lightning was spectacular, but the lightning inside the clouds during the sunset was amazing, wish I had a video camera - anyway back to the morning.

Catch fledgling Redstart flying/hoping around the living room! - not sure how long he had been there - Release to anxious parents perching on the balcony making all sorts of encouraging (for birds I guess) noises, he managed to fly to the trees so nothing wrong by the look of him.

Red Squirrel back again that's three times this week, along with about four green woodpeckers, and was awoken by the haunting sound of the Golden Oriole - still not got a good look at it, it's about as elusive as a Golden Snitch!

Set off to work 8.49 - arrived 9.15 as traffic better at the later time.... hmmm, maybe a longer lie in can be had...

Anyway off to pretend to work until the cricket starts, and then collecting Sister, husband and daughter this afternoon - already had complaints about the rain...! I am sure it will clear up...

Wildlife and nature

Been a while since I have had a chance to post anything, been busy with visitors and away in Germany for a few days - working unfortunatly - but hey ho, not to worry.








Going to just post some pictures this time, first some from around the garden.









Giant black bees, took ages to get one decent shot and doesnt quite show of the Indigo blue that covers the body and the beautiful wings look like oil on water, with multiple swirling colours



Managed to bag one in flight though!

Blue Tits in flight

The toad that won the swimming competition!








The cherries have been amazing and it is really difficult to eat them quick enough. Even with the birds helping themselves to the high branches there are kilos of cherries to be had